SEC Charges Crypto Advisor For Storing Money At FTX

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has levied another set of charges against Galois Capital – a crypto-focused advisory firm that custodied client assets at FTX.

For its actions, Galois agreed to pay a civil penalty of $225,000, which will be distributed to harmed investors of the fund.

Charged For Losing Money In FTX

Per the SEC’s Tuesday press release, the agency found that Galois failed to ensure that the crypto held by the private fund it was advising was held with a qualified custodian, instead holding them with unqualified crypto trading platforms – such as FTX.

“Approximately half of the fund’s assets under management from early to mid-November 2022 were lost in connection with the collapse of FTX,” the SEC claimed.

In sheer dollar terms, the fall of FTX was the largest corporate crypto failure in history, losing customers $8 billion, and investors $1.7 billion. During its CEO Sam Bankman Fried’s trial one year later, the jury determined that he and other executives had committed massive fraud, secretly trading and losing customer funds with FTX’s sister trading desk, Alameda Research.

The exchange’s collapse led to mass contagion and bankruptcies of other firms that trusted FTX, including BlockFi, Genesis, and Gemini Earn. While Gemini successfully recovered virtually all assets for its users, FTX creditors are not expected to fully reclaim their assets in crypto-denominated terms.

Aside from trusting FTX, the SEC said Galois misled some investors by claiming that withdrawals required five business days’ notice before month end, while allowing other investors to redeem on shorter notice.

Galois Capital exposed investors to risks that fund assets, including crypto assets, could be lost, misused, or misappropriated,” said Corey Schuster, Co-Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Asset Management Unit. “We will continue to hold accountable advisers who violate their core investor protection obligations.”

Without admitting or denying the allegations, Galois agreed to pay the civil penalty, and agreed to an order preventing it from further related Investment Advisers Act violations.

Galois Capital’s Response

In a post to Twitter on Tuesday, Galois Capital said it was glad to put its matters with the SEC behind it – though the firm claimed it had used Fireblocks as its crypto custodian. Fireblocks is one of crypto’s biggest infrastructure providers, and even welcomed former SEC chair Jay Clayton to its advisory board in 2021.

“Although Fireblocks was not a qualified custodian, we believed they were the best solution for our needs and, in our opinion, the safest way to secure crypto for our investors at the time,” Galois said.